A Europe of equals

The Commission presents an Action Plan to tackle the gender pay gap

A new Eurobarometer survey published today emphasises that gender equality is still not achieved in EU Member States. Women in Europe are still paid on average 16.3% less than men. The gender pay gap has not decreased in recent years, and is largely due to the fact that women tend to be employed less, in less well-paid sectors, take fewer promotions, take more career breaks, and do more unpaid work.

To address this problem, the European Commission is presenting today an Action Plan to tackle the gender pay gap for 2018-2019. Implementation of the action plan by all stakeholders will, amongst others:

- improve respect for the equal pay principle by assessing the possibility to amendment the Gender Equality directive.

- tackle the care penalty by urging the European Parliament and the Member States to adopt swiftly the work-life balance proposal of April 2017.

- break the glass-ceiling by funding projects to improve the gender balance in companies at all management levels; encouraging governments and social partners to adopt concrete measures to improve gender balance in decision-making.

Moreover, the European Commission kicked off today a major event on "Women's rights in turbulent times" which is the topical theme chosen for this year's annual Fundamental Rights Colloquium.

The Colloquium brings together politicians, researchers, journalists, NGOs, activists, businesses and international organisations to discuss how to best promote and protect women's rights in the EU. Sexual harassment, violence against women, the gender pay gap and work-life balance are among the main themes to be discussed over the two days of the Colloquium.